miller



Dec. 17, 1957 H. B. MILLER com FLOW CHANNEL CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 31 '1951 INVENTOR. #70 25 MM ATTORNEY Dec. 17, 1957 H. B. MILLER 2,816,639

COIN FLOW CHANNEL CONSTRUCTION Fi led March 51, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 IIVVENTOR.-

- ATTORNEY United States at (ZOIN FLOW CHANNEL CONSTRUCTION Harry B. Miller, Providence, R. 1., assignor to Max L. Grant, Providence, R. I.

Application March 31, 1951, Serial No. 219,646

16 Claims. (Cl. 194-1) The present invention relates to fare boxes, coin collectors and similar devices for receiving and registering coins, and has particular reference to a novel construction for a coin flow channel therefor.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a coin flow channel arrangement into which a number of coins may simultaneously enter from a coin hopper, and from which the coins feed in succession into a coin receiving and registering mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide a coin flow channel into which inserted or dropped coins may simultaneously enter, with means for ensuring passage of the coins therefrom in sequence in edge to edge relation.

A further object of the invention is to providea coin flow channel of a width which may receive a number of coins in parallel relation, with means for separating adjacent coins.

An additional object is to provide a coin flow channel into which inserted or dropped coins may simultaneously enter, with scavenging means for clearing the coin flow channel of bent and damaged coins and extraneous objects such as tickets, buttons and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a coin flow channel with an agitator guide for breaking up jammed, shingled and bridged coins and guiding the coins in edge to edge relation to a coin register inlet.

A further object is to provide a coin flow channel with a yielding abutment adjacent a coin register inlet, to guide coins in succession towards the entry and to shift out-ofposition coins away from the inlet.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings,

Figl is a front elevation of a coin register apparatus, parts being broken away and the front closure plate being removed, to disclose the coin flow channel;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the rear wall of the coin flow channel, parts being broken away;

Fig. 4 is a detail enlarged section of the scavenging panel and its associated parts, the parts being in normal closed relation;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, the scavenging relation;

Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the agitator lever of Fig. l in retracted position; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the agitator lever.

It has been found desirable to provide a coin flow channel construction for fare boxes, coin registers and coin collectors, which is adapted to simultaneously receive a number of coins, and which selectively guides and separates the received coins so that they exit from the flow parts being in open channel in sequence in edge to edge relation. To this end, I have devised a flow channel construction of a width to receive a number of coins simultaneously and in parallel relation, the flow channel being tortuous to reduce its overall size, and the coins rolling along guide tracks while sliding along the rear wall of the channel, this being readily accomplished by setting the channel and its tracks in'an inclined plane. The falling coins are selectively retarded by their frictional contact with the inclined channel rear wall, means being provided to separate contracting parallel coins, and the coins are guided towards a slot through which they pass in edge to edge relation to enter an entry passage with converging sides for feeding to a registering mechanism, preferably of the indexing rotor conveyor type. I prefer to provide an agitator guide lever which forms one side of the entry passage and is intermittently moved to break up coin jams, bridges, and shingles, and to mount a spring pressed abutment which forms the other side of the entry passage and guides the coins through an inlet and successively into the pockets of the indexing rotor conveyor, the abutment yielding whenever coins bridge across the space between the agitator and the abutment or whenever a coin bridges ber tween a rotor pocket edge and the abutment to thrust the coins or coin outwardly and back into the entry passage. Since a bent or damaged coin or an extraneous object such as a ticket, a button, or the like is restrained from passing into the entry passage and into the registering mechanism by the narrow width of the slot, I provide scavenging means which opens up the entire flow channel and permits such coins and objects to drop through a large opening in the rear wall of the channel and into a storage receptacle which is preferably locked, thus clearing the flow channel.

Referring to the drawings, an illustrative machine for collecting and registering fares and embodying the novel coin flow channel arrangement is designated 10. The machine has a housing 11 in which the coin flow channel and the registering mechanism is housed, the housing having a removable front closure 12 which is preferably made of glass or other transparent material, in whole or in part, and is inclined as illustrated.

A coin hopper frame 13 is mounted on the upper edge of the housing 11, and has a trough shaped coin receiving channel 14 into which a number of coins may be simultaneously inserted or dropped, the channel 14 having a constricted outlet 15 of a width to permit passage of coins of the desired size or smaller, and to withhold passage of larger coins.

The coins passed through the channel 14 enter a coin chute 16 which is positioned beneath the outlet 15 and is detachably mounted on the front and rear walls 17, 18 of a coin flow channel designated generally by the reference numeral 19, the walls 17,18 being parallel and inclined at an angle of about thirty degrees to the horizontal, and being spaced apart so as to accommodate a number of coins in adjacent relation. The front wall 17 is. preferably of transparent material such as glass, and the rear wall 18 is preferably of metal; one side of the flow channel is closed by a spacer element 20, the spacer element being preferably made of transparent material so that a light bulb 21, positioned at its rear as illustrated, may shine through to illuminate the flow channel.

The inserted coins which fall from the chute 16 roll along a downwardly inclined linear track 22 which is perpendicular to the rear wall, whereby its inclination to the horizontal urges the coins towards the rear wall, for frictional contact with the rear wall and resulting retardation of the contacting coins to effect an initial coin separation. The track 22 guides the coins to a vertical fixed guide strip 23 which has a lower curved portion 24 for guiding the coinsto a second track 25, the track being inclined downwardly and also being perpendicular to the. rear wall to urge the coins towards the. rear wall.

The track 25 is spaced from the rear wall to provide an. elongated slot 27 of a width which permits passage. of the coins in edgewise. relation, but not inparallelrelation. A separator element 28. of arcuate form. is positioned. in the. slot 27'; adjacent the upper end of the track 25 and below the lower edge of the guide strip23, whereby any coins, which. adhere in parallel relation are separated, the coin adjacent the rear wall rolling over the separator element28: and-intothe slot 27, and the other coin or coins fallingto the lower level of the track 25and rolling down-- wardly thereon. The separator element 28 includes a guide abutment; hereinafter described.

The, coins passing through. the slot 27 fall into an entry passage 29 .for..conyeying.the coins to. an inlet- 30 of a coin registering mechanism or the like. The registering meehgnisrn, illustrated. includes. a rotor 31 provided with coin receiving pockets 32. of. equal size and intermediate radialfingersfifi, Therotor is. power actuated. in response to coin movement, and intermittently turned to bring a coin which, enters a pocket into position forcontact by a coin, gauging device. 3.4. which. is pressed downwardly togauge. the. coin diameter, and by mechanismnot shown, to register the..value of the coin. The registeredQQiIJ re ndexed around asthe rotor turns to fall by gravity; intoa coin collector, a coinsorter, or the like, not shown,

Referring now to,Figs. 1, 6 and. 7, the entry passage 29 has a yieldable abutment 35formingone side thereof and mounted adjacent the. coin gauging device 34, the.

abutment 35- being rounded at its lower end to guide coins into the contiguousrotor pocket, the abutment being part of the separator element 28, which ispivotally mounted on a stubshaft36. A coil spring 37 is also mounted on the stub shaft 36 and has. one end engaging a lug 38 on the separator element 28, and the other end contacting the lower surface. of the track 25, the abutment 35 being yieldingly movable. upwardly, but held against rllgwnward movement by a stop...lug 39-on the rear wall The entrypassage29 hascan agitator lever 40 positioned at its other side; opposite theabutment 35, the agitator lever being pivotally. mountedtonapin 41 and extending through the slot 27. A coil spring 4Zis mounted on the pin. 41, withoneend engaging a-.lug.43 constituting one side of, a channel, piec 44; welded to the upper end of the lever 40, and: the otherend seated in a recess 45in the spacer element-20;, wherebythelever40-is continually urged to theright, as disclosed in. Fig. 6

The lowercmltof the lever .40has arear block- 46 and a reduced extension 47, whereby an actuating rod- 48' which extends, through ahorizontahslot 49. in the rear wall 18 and is reciprocatedrbymechanism not shown,

rides on the extension. 4.7 and engages the block 46to periodically, urge the. lever 40, to the left against the yielding pressure of the spring. 42;

The other side, 50 of the channel piece 44-functions as a ,thrustarm, and for this purpose-is. angularly= positioned, as illustrated in Fig. 7 to-thrust any coins which have not passed through the slot 27 and are still seated on the track. 25\ back along .the track 25 and towards the rear wall 18.

The forward edge 51 of the lever 40- is arcuate, and

functions as. a curved guide to. direct coins toward the rotor pockets when the lever is periodically moved forwardly. in, timedrelation to therotor indexing. Each timethe-rotor is indexing forwardly the actuating, rod 48 moves to the right to allow the lever 4-0 to move to the right; however, a coin cannot enter arotorpocket atthis time, as a rotor finger 33 is moving acros s the inlet 30 and cooperates with the upper end ofafixed stop bar 52.

to block entry of acoin; into a rotor pocket,v Motiondo the left of the lever 40 breaks up any coin jamming in the feedingchamber, as well as any shingling which may occur between the back wall and the bottom rail, and the lever 40 may be manually moved for this purpose whenever desired, by turning a knurled knob 53 keyed to the pin 41.

As disclosed in Fig. l, the rear wall 18 has a generally rectangular panel 54 which forms part thereof and is positioned behind the track 25 The panel 54- has an upper support plate 55 on its rear surface, see Figs. 4 and 5, which is provided with a rearwardly extending rectangular shell 56. The shell 56 has a lower depending section 57 and side bars 58, 59, the sidebars. being hingedly mounted on a stub shaft 60 fixed in a saddle bearing 61 attached to the rear surfaceof the rear Wall 18.

A shaft 62 extends between spaced bearings 63, 64 on the rear surface of the wall 18, one end of the shaft 62 projecting through the side of the housing 11 and having a manually engageable handle 65 keyed thereon. A bent lever 66' has its lower end pivoted on the shaft 62 adjacent the bearing 63, and has a slot 67 at its bend which receives a pivot pin 68 extending from the side bar 58 and positioned as illustrated, for a sliding pivot engagement, the upper end of thelever 66 having a transverse part 69 with a laterally extending lug- 70. The lug 70 is secured to the back of the upright portion 71 of an angle bar 72 at one end of the latter, the transverse portion of the angle bar 72 extending through a slot 73 in the rear wall 18 and functioning as the track 22.

A second lever 74is pivotally mounted on the shaft 62 adjacent the second bearing 64, the latter having a slotted extension 75 at its upper end to guide the lever 74; a transverse lug on the upper end of the lever 74 is secured to the other end of the upright portion 71 of the anglev bar 72. A cam 76 is keyed to the shaft 62, and has a projecting cam face 77 adapted to press against the depending plate 57 of the shell 46 when the shaft 62 is turned, and to press against a spring leaf 78 when the shaft 62: is in normal position, the spring leaf being securediat' its. upper end to the panel 54 and functioning as a resilient seat for'stopping vibration of the panel when it constitutes part of the rear wall 18.

When thecam 76 is turned as shown in Fig. 5 the panel 54 is swung back to uncover a scavenging opening 79 in the rear wall and the track 22 is simultaneously retracted, whereby the entire coin flow channel is opened for clearing. Opposite sides of the opening 79 are bordered by side plates 80, 81 secured to and extending rearwardly from the rear wall 18. Bent coins, damaged coins tickets and other extraneous objects which have entered the.coin flowchannel fall down through achute 82-intora receptacle 83, which is preferably not accessible im place, isiunlocked and removed.

The passage of coins through the coin flow channel may now be explained. When a plurality of coins are simultaneously dropped or inserted in the coin hopper, they enter. the coin flow. channel and fall on the track 22, contact the rear wall and-separate as they roll down the track 22, impact the-end guide, and slide along the rear wall to the. slot 27. If two coins are in parallel, the separator causes the coins :to separate; if any coins do not drop through the slot 27, they impact the thrust arm of theagitatorilever and; are pushed back towards the rear wall upon the periodic forward movement of the agitator lever until; they finally drop. through the slot 27 and into the entry passage 29.

The agjtatorlever, and theabutment form, guides which direct the coins successively into-the, rotorpockets; as the rotor turns to bring each coin into engagement with thecoin gauging, device, the agitator lever moves toward theright to. permit further downward movement of coins intothe entry passage. If bridging, jamming, or shingling occurs,. the.v movement oftheagitator. lever to the; left breaks it, up; if any bridging. occurs between. the agitator lever and the abutment, or between a rotor finger and the abutment, the abutment will lift up against the pressure of its spring, as the line of the bridging coin centers is inclined upwardly, whereby the bridged coins are thrust back into the entry passage. Should damaged or bent coins enter the coin flow passage, or extraneous objects such as tickets, buttons, or the like, the coin flow passage is readily scavenged by manually turning the shaft 62 and clearing the coin flow passage to the scavenging opening 79.

Although I have described a specific constructional embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape, and arrangement of the parts may be made to meet requirements for different coin collectors and coin registers, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A flow channel construction for a fare box or the like, comprising a rear wall, a downwardly inclined track, said rear wall being inclined to the vertical to frictionally engage coins rolling down the track and said track being of a width to receive several coins in parallel, an exit slot adjacent the rear wall of a length and width for permitting several coins to pass through simultaneously in edge to edge relation, means for thrusting coins on said track towards the rear wall and the exit slot, and means for periodically actuating the coin thrusting means.

2. A flow channel construction for a fare box or the like, comprising a rear wall, a downwardly inclined track, said rear wall being inclined to the vertical to frictionally engage coins rolling down the track and said track being of a width to receive several coins in parallel, an exit slot adjacent the rear wall of a length and width for permitting several coins to pass through simultaneously in edge to edge relation, an inlet passage for receiving coins from said exit slot, an agitator lever extending through said exit slot and movable to direct coins from the inlet passage to an inlet to a registering device or the like, a thrust element on the upper edge of the lever for engaging coins on said track and thrusting the engaged coins towards the rear wall and the exit slot, and means for moving the agitator lever and actuating the thrust element.

3. In fare collecting apparatus of the kind which is capable of handling a multiple-coin fare comprising coins of different denominations and which includes means for gauging a coin as to diameter, a rotary transfer device operative to carry a coin from a feeding chamber into the field of action of the gauging means, a hopper shaped and dimensioned to receive, at the same time, all of the coins constituting such a fare, the hopper having a dlscharge opening in its bottom of a width such as to permit a plurality of coins in face-to-face contact to pass through it at the same time, means defining a smooth, coin-supporting surface inclined downwardly and forwardly at an angle of approximately 60 to the vertical, means guiding coins discharged from the hopper to fall upon the upper part of said supporting surface, a fiat panel arranged forwardly of said supporting surface, parallel to said surface, and spaced from said surface to provide between it and said surface a coin-flow channel of a frontto-rear depth sufiicient to allow two coins, of any of the denominations to be collected, while in face-to-face contact, to move downwardly through said channel but which constrains the coins to move edgewise in passing through the channel, means within said channel operative to separate coins as they move downwardly, and means defining a slot, of a front-to-rear depth such as to permit passage, edgewise, of the thickest coin to be collected but which prevents simultaneous passage of coins in face-to-face relation, through which coins may drop from said flow channel into the feeding chamber, the latter tapering downwardly with its delivery end adjacent to the periphery of the rotary transfer device, characterized in that one Wall at least of said feeding chamber is defined by a lever which contacts said supporting surface and extends through said slot and which is pivoted to swing about an axis perpendicular to said coin supporting surface and located above the slot-defining means, spring means tending to swing the lever in a direction such as to widen the delivery end of the coin-feeding chamber, and stop means normally operative to limit such motion of the lever.

4. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 3, further characterized in that both walls of the downwardly tapering coin-feeding chamber are defined by levers, both pivoted to swing about axes perpendicular to the coin supporting surface and with their axes above the delivery end of the feeding chamber, spring means tending to swing the levers in opposite directions, and stop means normally operative to limit such swinging motion of the levers thereby to define the normal width of the delivery end of said feeding chamber.

5. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the slot through which coins pass from the flow channel into the feeding chamber extends across the full width of the Widest part of the feeding chamber and is of a length such that at least two coins of any of the denominations to be collected may move simultaneously in edge-to-edge relation down through said slot.

6. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 3, further characterized in that the surface of the lever which defines one wall of the feeding chamber is concavely curved and terminates closely adjacent to the periphery of the rotary transfer device.

7. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the rotary transfer device is an intermittently turning disk having peripheral open coin-receiving recesses separated by radial arms, further characterized in that the lever having the concavely curved edge which defines one wall of the feeding chamber also has a lever end edge which intersects said concave edge to form an acute angle, the stop means being so constructed and arranged that the intersection of said edges of the lever is closely adjacent to the end of a radial arm of the transfer device when the latter is stationary.

8. F are collecting apparatus according to claim 3, Wherein the rotary transfer device is an intermittently turning disk having peripherally open coin-receiving recesses separated by radial arms, further characterized in that the stop means for the lever is so constructed and arranged that the lower end of that edge of the lever which defines a wall of the feeding chamber is normally closely adjacent to the end of a radial arm of the disk While the latter is stationary, whereby said edge of the lever acts to guide coins from the feeding chamber into a coin-receiving recess of the disk.

9. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 8, further characterized in having means operative to retract the stop during each forward motion of the rotary transfer device, and means operative to prevent improper entry of a coin from the feeding chamber into a recess of the disk when the stop is retracted.

l0. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the rotary feed device is a disk having peripherally open coin-receiving pockets separated by radial arms, further characterized in that the edge of one lever which defines a Wall of the coin feeding chamber is concavely curved and that edge of the other lever which defines the opposite wall of said chamber is convexly curved, the lower ends of said curved edges being so spaced normally that the delivery end of the feed chamber registers with the open end of a recess in the disk when the latter is stationary.

11. Fare collecting apparatus according to claim 10, further characterized in that the pivotal axis of the lever having the convex edge is so located, relatively to the free end of said lever, that said free end will move upwardly in opposition to its spring, in response to pressure of a coin which is bridged between it and an arm of the rotor or; tl'lQzOthelT-Qf saidaleyers therehyto imQ Q' suchin.-:; 1p,; wardly, away from. thedelivery and oil the.. coimfeeding;

chamber.

12 Hare-collecting apparatuspaccording, torclaim 10, whereinthat'leverywhichhas-.theconvex. edge lies in contact, with; the; supporting, surface.- and, passes .through the slot hetweenthe, coin advancing channel andtthecoin feedingchamber, the curved edge of.said lever havingan extension which is .lo.c.ate.d=above the: slot and whichacon stitutes coin separatingmeans.

13. Fare, collecting. apparatus according to claim 3, wherein-the, means. for defining said slot comprises a transversely extending inclined .rail within the coin fi0w,-chamber and down.v which coi'ns.roll. onedge, the-rear edge.

oi the. rail being spaced-from the. coinv supporting, surface. to define the. frontwall ofi said. sl0 t, ,cha-r,acterized in that the lower end of the rail is adjacent. tothe. lever, and hayingmeans, carriedby the leverg for limiting, downward motion of a coin whichhas failkadiodrfogthrpughthe. slot.

14.. Fare. collecting apparatus.according;to .claim.1.3, further. characterized in that. the, upper. surface ofv the rail slopes downwardly and rearwardlyand the, means for limiting downward motion ofacoin a1ong =the.rail com.- prises a part mounted. on the lever abovethe, rail. which extends diagonally across. the plane. of-a. coin resting on.

the rail.

8 1-5... Fare-a collecting, apBaratus. according 10.: claim. 3., wherein fthedever is.-provide.d with atforwardly' extending coingcontacting element; located. above the slotiandwwhich.

is,constructed and; arranged. to -bias.- a.- coincontacting; it

; rearwardlyytoward'thesupport.

16,. Eare.collectingapparatus accordingito claim 3, fur.- ther characterizedr-inlhaving means for. manually rocking. saidileyen imopppsitionto? its spring. and away fromthe stop, meanastherebyz to agitate coins. withinv the feeding;

chamber.

References..Cited.in :the file: of. this. patent UNIJTED; STATES PATENTS.- 

